About a month ago, the Houston Association of Realtors released a revamped [consumer-oriented] website. I tried to cover this release as objectively as I could, trying to point out the positives and the negatives from a REALTOR’s standpoint. In an effort to get the point of view of other fellow agents I posted something about my post on Active Rain hoping to spark a constructive debate on the topic. What followed is in my view, a legitimate debate and the premise for this post.

Count your blessings.

There are some facts in this debate that cannot be contested even from opponents of this release from HAR. In certain aspects, the Houston Association of Realtors has been a pioneer when compared to other associations around the state or even the country. First and foremost, HAR forwards leads generated by the consumer website to the listing agent at no cost to the agent. Usually leads are generated by consumers who want to “Schedule a Showing” or ask for a “Free Value Estimate” on a particular home. This is simply not available to most agents around the country. Most associations either charge for leads provided (a la aggregators), don’t provide leads at all or even don’t have consumer oriented sites period. Also, HAR provides its agents with a very limited but free IDX solution that allows its members to provide an MLS search on their own websites via a link that is customized for that agent. And in case the consumer requests a showing during that search, that lead goes back to the agent at no cost. I am not aware of any other associations that provide this service or at least that’s what HAR tells me in their summary of why we’re so lucky. In the Active Rain Discussion, Danny Frank who sits on HAR’s Technology Advisory Board, took the position that some Houston agents may be taking for granted these tools that other agents around the country wish they had at their disposal.

Pursue Perfection

On the other hand, consider the following statistic. Last year, I received 33 leads from HAR from my listings. Not bad at all, considering that they were after all free. However, during the same period of time, I received 455 leads from those same listings off my website. You might say: “Well, your own website is all about you and your company so it makes sense for it to generate more leads”. And I’ll grant you that. But 15 times more?! I’m not for a second suggesting that I or any other individual agents might be smarter than the folks running HAR. Or even that my individual site is in any way better than HAR.com. What I am suggesting is the possibility that individual agents dealing with limited resources might constitute a brain trust that HAR can tap into for great ideas to improve its lead generation system. For instance, I happen to believe that “Schedule Showing” can be very intimidating for consumers and that substituting it with “Request more info” would probably generate at least double the number of leads for listing agents.

 But in the end, I believe there is a fundamental question here that desperately needs answers:

What is the ultimate purpose of HAR’s consumer site?

If its purpose is to generate leads (and business) for its members that supply the content that draws the traffic, then that above statistic has to be very worrisome. Because in the end, the purpose of my site is to generate leads and business from the content that I provide (i.e listings). And if individual agents have figured out more effective ways to generate leads, then HAR might want to incorporate their ideas to make the lead generation more efficient. But that’s valid only if its main purpose is lead generation.

Another point of view, is that HAR might be trying to establish its consumer site as some sort of advertising revenue generating standalone real estate hub (a la Zillow or Trulia) and in the process, it might be entering in direct competition with its member agents. Christopher Hurley, took this position on the Active Rain discussion. In his view (and I am paraphrasing), HAR’s new site will knock many individual agents off their hard earned top search engine results positions. And if their primary purpose is to simply generate revenue for itself, this has to be worrisome for its members that provide the substance of HAR’s site: listings.

Should the appreciation for great tools already available to Houston agents and the constant pursuit of something better be mutually exclusive? I think not.

What do you think?